Right-winger John Hawkins has a post up about building a blog audience. He’s averaging 6,000 hits a day. I don’t know how long he’s been blogging, but that’s not bad. Not bad at all. John writes:
So don’t just take my word for it, listen to one Drew Curtis, the man who runs Fark, a page that has more than a million readers per day. Here’s a slightly edited transcript of a conversation we had on ICQ, back in Feb of 2003…
Drew Curtis: All of 1999 we got 50,000 pageviews. These days we get 5,000,000 per week (**Note that the numbers are higher now**) those are no BS numbers either. Everytime I ask someone how many page views they get, they automatically multiply by 5-10 times
John Hawkins: 50,000 for the whole year? It was basically the same page back then too right?
Drew Curtis: Yup. Check out the archives, it’s saved. Yeah 50k for the whole year. But think about it, why would a page written from scratch as someone’s personal homepage be any higher? I thought 50k was a freakin avalanche.
John Hawkins: Oh — I know — I’ve been though it myself — but a lot of people think they’re going to create a web page and then boom — two months later they’re going to be pulling 10k people a day.
Drew Curtis: Yeah I think just about everyone does. I get emails from folks all day. If you don’t stick to it for at least two years straight day in day out it won’t take off.
So all you conservative bloggers out there, take Drew’s advice. Stick to it for at least two years straight and contribute money to RWN…
I wrote about this last month in response to a fellow blogger’s disenchantment with blogging because his hit count was low. Here’s an excerpt:
Before I started this blog, I wasn’t much of a blog reader. I read only one, a collaborative blog, because a friend joined it.
I went in with low expectations and was very flattered when one or two commenters stopped by. One of the advantages I had was I didn’t know about the big blogs that got 20+ comments and thousands of hits per day. After eight months in “business”, I average 350-400 hits per day; I got 500+ hits a few times, though I can’t remember for which posts. I appreciate every one of them.
You never know who’s reading your blog. Imagine my surprise when I found out that someone like Michelle Malkin was reading. And yesterday, I got a call from an editor I worked with once at the Philadelphia Inquirer. They do a weekly blog showcase and wanted permission to excerpt part of the Kerry post on abortion, particularly this paragraph: “Our laws are grounded in moral absolutes, whether secularists think so or not. I don’t know if Kerry believes abortion is murder…”
Having a purpose for blogging definitely helps. Mine was to comment daily from a Christian point of view. The blog is also a central location for my columns and articles, and a quick way for friends to find out what I’m up to.
My first piece of advice for bloggers trying to build a readership is to blog because you like doing it.
I advised him to submit his blog to directories and search engines and join various blog carnivals, such as Carnival of the Vanities, Christian Carnival, Blogs For Bush Carnival, etc.
I market my column (though I should be doing much more), so I marketed my blog. Taking the time to comment on other blogs is very important. It not only helps build community, but it’s an opportunity to leave your URL on someone else’s site. You just might be “discovered” by one of the big boys.
Blog because you like (dare I say love) it. I’ve been writing a bi-weekly column for over two years, and when I started blogging eight months ago on Blog*Spot, my expectations were very low. I had no ambitions of building an audience. I just needed an outlet to do daily rants, and blogging seemed like the natural choice.
Since I started the new blog about three weeks ago with my own domain name, my hits have increased modestly. While John’s 6,000 average is relatively awesome, I’m astoundingly grateful for 1,000.
I’ve learned a few basic things about blogging that work for me:
1. Post at least one interesting item a day at least five days a week. I sometimes take weekends off.
2. Delete comments that cross the line, whatever that is for you, and don’t concern yourself about bone-headed accusations of “preaching to the choir” (So what if you are?). I allowed some leeway in the beginning because I was “new.” But no more. I have no patience for it now.
3. Delete trackbacks that lead to an insulting or sarcastic post about you. My rule for such nitwits: No free publicity on my bandwidth!
That’s all I want to say at the moment, but if you want more advice, you know where to reach me. I blog because I love to write, must write. That’s how I’ve built an audience. My sage advice to any would-be blogger is…just blog.
I almost forgot. Speaking of carnivals, check out this week’s Christian Carnival and Carnival of the Vanities.
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I’m hoping to break 100 hits/day by the end of the year…..
I remember being pretty happy with ten hits a day and an occasional comment. I also had not yet seen sites like LGF that generate hundreds of comments for posts. But if you stick with it your audience does grow and two years is a good benchmark to look at.
That is so true about you never know who is reading your blog or what happens as a result. I have been surprised more than once by emails and avenues opened for professional writing.
That’s right, Mike. Modest expectations! If you keep doing and keep it interesting, your audience WILL grow.
You know what. I’m just too lazy to blog besides the government should Blog for me! Yea Yea thats right!
Don’t laugh! I’m claiming my laziness as a disease and I’m going to collect disability! I’m calling it ImSoLazyIcantBlogitis.
Blog on {doing the Blog-a-rina}
‘I didn’t surrender either, but they made my Horse surrender and they took him from me. He’s up in Kansas pulling wagons now’. -Indian In “Outlaw Josey Whales”
I’ve been at this since March of 2002, and I average around 100 hits a day. I’m small potatoes, but I love blogging, so I keep banging away – whether I get noticed or not. Take it from me – don’t blog if you’re looking for notariety. Blog because you’re passionate about a subject, and would like to contribute your voice to the chorus of opinion out there. You’ll sharpen both your writing and rhetorical skills, and, while you’re at it, likely meet some pretty neat folk with whom you can develop friendships, swap stories and sharpen your arguments. Should something bigger come along as a result, so much the better, but take it from a still-obscure blogging vet: you’ll likely be disappointed if your only motivation for beginning a blog is to become rich and/or famous.
Like Jared, I blog because it interests me. Whether what I write interests anyone else is their business. And I wirte about a lot of things, some well, some not so well. My 150 hits a day get a boost from time to time, but usually I have the same visitors and commenters.
My blog is really my links page. It is where I go when I want to browse opinion, and my blogroll is people I read every day. Well, sometimes I’m too busy to hit them all. But I’m well-intentioned!
And yes, La Shawn is on my daily reading list!
Delete trackbacks that lead to an insulting or sarcastic post about you.
No such thing as bad publicity?
Anyway, good advice. Unless you’re purposely looking to market yourself (mebbe as a columnist?), I say blog as if you’re throwin skyward a pebble that can hit the stars. Prolly nobody’d notice it, but you just wanna get it out there anyway. It’s one of the reasons i don’t use one of the site tracking meter things (tho this IS subject to change). I’m afraid I might start to blog for an audience, which is different sometimes from blogging just to express ideas.
No trackback trolls for me!
Aside from the rather lengthy comments I remember leaving on your last post about this topic, my additional two-cents:
Demonstrate the spirit of excellence in your work! Frequent and rampant typos, broken links, shoddy format, and design eye-sores are not deal-breakers, but I like to read people who take pride in what they do, even if it’s all in fun. It shows me a little something about how that person feels about their writing.
Besides, you never know who’s reading and you’d never invite strangers over to a messy house.
It took me three years to reach 7,000 visitors, but then my postings were a bit more sporadic back then. Five years later, I’m averaging about 700 a day, not enough for the A-list (or even the B-list) but enough to surprise me.
I’ll have to work on posting 5 days a week before I consider any other tips. LOL!
I know the feeling, Rikki. The past few weeks for me have been quite busy for me. Unfortunately, I only started blogging in June. :/
Still, I’m determined to keep at it, and to try to get back up to 5 days a week! It’s worth a shot, anyway.
I know I’ve been coming here for awhile now, but I’ve been too shy(translation: prideful) to ask what a trackback is, so now I’m asking…Lol.
What’s a trackback?
Thanks for the comments. Keep blogging and keep visiting!
Kiki- A trackback is a way to “ping” another blog to let the person know you’re blogging about him/her. Rather than leaving a comment or sending an e-mail, you go to their site and pick up their trackback URL. In WordPress, there’s a place to paste the code at the end a post, so when the post is published, the other site is notified.
For instance, right below you is a trackback from Dummocrats.com. He’s letting me know that he’s blogging about this post.
Kiki I was wondering the same thing. Thanks for braving up and asking.
Thanks for the explanation La Shawn.
I found that the thing that makes the biggest difference is having your Sitemeter set up correctly. But then I’m kind of a dumba**.
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